Tuesday newsletter time: Rangers on a roll since Tony Beasley named interim manager

(AP photo/Abbie Parr)

The Rangers have won five of their past eight games, four of their past five and three in a row,.

The three-game streak came on the road against a playoff contender. Three of the five wins in the past week have been by one run.

The bullpen has been downright good.

All of it has happened under Interim manager Tony Beasley, with general manager Chris Young in charge of baseball operations for the past five games.

Maybe players were given a lift by the decisions to dismiss Chris Woodward as manager and Jon Daniels as former president of baseball operations Jon Daniels, seeing the organization willing to make changes off the field to get the team winning again. That could very well be the case.

Knowing Beasley and Young, they would say this would have happened no matter who was in charge.

Adolis Garcia clubbed his 20th homer of the season Monday night, and four relievers tossed five shutout innings as the Rangers won the four-game series at Minnesota with a 2-1 victory.

Corey Seager broke a 1-all tie with an RBI single in the sixth. A.J. Alexy tossed 2 2/3 scoreless innings behind Cole Ragans, and Matt Moore wiped out the Twins in the ninth.

And Rangers overcame a triple play

But the law of averages is also responsible for the good week.

The Rangers were due for some narrow wins after being historically bad through their first 30 one-run games (6-24) this season. They were due to survive some defensive miscues and for their bullpen to hold a lead.

Garcia has a 19-game hitting streak, and Nate Lowe has been one of the best hitters in the league since the All-Star break. That started on the Woodward-Daniels clock.

The Rangers hopped on a plane destined for the great state of Colorado ahead of a two-game series Tuesday and Wednesday. Weird things happen at Coors Field.

Whether it’s Beasley, Young or the law of averages, the Rangers are seeing things consistently go their way for the first time since June.

Where’s Bubba?

That was a question from a loyal Twitter follower Monday afternoon after the Rangers’ lineup was posted. Bubba Thompson was not in there for the second straight game, and the tweeter was not pleased because the Rangers should be looking to the future.

A couple things:

Thompson is on the roster, and that’s a good thing. The guess here is that Twins right-hander Sonny Gray was not a good matchup for a righty-hitting rookie who is known for swinging and missing. A left-handed hitter, Kole Calhoun, got the start.

Calhoun, as was discussed in Monday’s newsletter, is not a part of the future.

But …

The Rangers scored seven runs Sunday afternoon, and Beasley went with the same lineup in the hopes of replicating the performance. There’s nothing wrong with that.

Part of the building for 2023 the Rangers are doing is building momentum. Nothing builds momentum quite like wins.

Thompson is going to play plenty the rest of the way. Two off days won’t stunt his development.

Jung watch

Do we need to do this every day now that Josh Jung is within the 45-day window to retain his rookie status for 2023?

Yeah?

Jung’s MLB debut seems imminent, but prying it out of a club official or from Jung himself will be like breaking into Fort Knox. The decision will be heavily guarded, with treason charges pending for anyone with the club who leaks it.

That doesn’t mean it won’t be leaked. Those things tend to happen with Scott Boras clients.

For those who watch minor-league lineups for clues, Jung was not in the lineup at Triple A Round Rock on Monday night. Then again, Round Rock didn’t play.

The thinking here is the soonest that Jung debuts is Friday. Next Tuesday is another possibility. The Rangers are at home both days, and it would be a pretty questionable business decision to have Jung not debut at Globe Life Field.

Doggy video!

In fairness, it does look delicious. Enjoy. See you Wednesday.

There's 2 types of dogs…😂🐶🍔 pic.twitter.com/8vjiTMMuDJ

— Laughs 4 All 🤟 (@Laughs_4_All) August 17, 2022

Jeff Wilson, jeff@rangerstoday.com